WITH JAMILAH KING

Laverne Cox Makes History on the Cover of TIME

“Orange is the New Black” star Laverne Cox is on the cover of TIME, along with a cover story by Katie Steinmetz titled, “The Transgender Tipping Point: America’s Next Civil Rights Frontier.” The story itself is behind a paywall, but a video and interview are available for free online. Here’s an excerpt:

Where is America when it comes to the acceptance of trans people?

We are in a place now where more and more trans people want to come forward and say ‘This is who I am.’ And more trans people are willing to tell their stories. More of us are living visibly and pursuing our dreams visibly, so people can say, ‘Oh yeah, I know someone who is trans.’ When people have points of reference that are humanizing, that demystifies difference. Social media has been a huge part of it and the Internet has been a huge part of it, where we’re able to have a voice in a way that we haven’t been able to before. We’re being able to write our stories and we’re being able to talk back to the media … We are the reason. And we are setting the agenda in a different way.

Read more over at TIME. Janet Mock, author of the bestselling memoir “Redefining Realness”, wrote on Tumblr about how big of a deal this is for transgender communities. “Such a major media moment for a trans woman of color to be visible and vocal in this way, helping spark multiple conversations about identity, about the intersection of race, class, gender and so much more.”

Read this online at http://colorlines.com/archives/2014/05/laverne_cox_makes_history_on_the_cover_of_time.html

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